Joseph Sassoon Publishes New Book on the Anatomy of Authoritarianism

Anatomy of Authoritarianism

In the Arab Republics

The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies is pleased to congratulate Dr. Joseph Sassoon, CCAS Associate Professor and Sheikh Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah Chair, on the publication of his new book Anatomy of Authoritarianism in the Arab Republics by Cambridge University Press (2016). By examining the system of authoritarianism in eight Arab republics, Sassoon portrays life under these regimes and explores the mechanisms underpinning their resilience. How did the leadership in these countries create such enduring systems? What was the economic system that prolonged the regimes’ longevity, but simultaneously led to their collapse? Why did these seemingly stable regimes begin to falter? This book seeks to answer these questions by utilizing the Iraqi archives and memoirs of those who were embedded in these republics: political leaders, ministers, generals, security agency chiefs, party members, and business people. Taking a thematic approach, the book begins in 1952 with the Egyptian Revolution and ends with the Arab uprisings of 2011. It seeks to deepen our understanding of the authoritarianism and coercive systems that prevailed in these countries and the difficult process of transition from authoritarianism that began after 2011. Dr. Sassoon’s book Saddam Hussein’s Ba`th Party: Inside an Authoritarian Regime (Cambridge University Press, 2012) won the prestigious British-Kuwait Prize for the best book on the Middle East.